Yet there had been something about her at the funeral. Something sad and solitary that had called to him. So he’d tried to kidnap her. He banged his head against the tree, enduring the pain as bark dug into his skull. Being half-crazed didn’t give him the excuse to be a moron.
He closed his eyes and let the sound of rain, wind, and waves ground him in this moment and in this world. He was home, and for the time being, he was safe. His mind drifted, and he returned to hell.
He’d been forced into world after world through a portal, and somehow in this loop, he could escape by imagining other portals that soon appeared. Most led to worse places, so he’d try to jump again. Time moved differently—one minute felt like a hundred years of torture and pain. His spirit hung in tatters by the time he reached his brother’s world. Quade was one of the Seven bonded in blood and bone, which made them family.
Quade had pulled him out of the fire and secured them both in a dirty cave littered with crumbled leaves and discarded bones. Fire and glass-filled wind roared in a maelstrom outside. The other male had scar upon scar upon scar on his body, but his nose was Ronan’s. Exactly the same.
Even though pain had engulfed Ivar, he finally knew why he’d been through so many hells. “Ronan’s world exploded, and he’s home now. It’s time for you to go home too. I’ll take your place,” he said.
Quade’s dark aqua eyes barely showed the existence of his pupils in the dingy cave. “It’s almost over, brother.”
Ivar eyed the sharp rock. “Just tell me what to do.” His memories were already dim, but hadn’t Ronan said he’d needed to move rocks and balance the magnetic poles in his world to keep Ulric trapped? If so, what was Quade doing every day besides being tortured by an environment too horrible to believe?
Quade’s torn lips twisted in a parody of a smile. “I feed the dragon, Viking. Not you.”
“Dragon?” Ivar asked. They existed other places as well as back home?
“No,” Quade said, his voice raw. “It’s getting harder, and soon it’ll end. Everything will. Me.” He grunted the last, sounding more hopeful than resigned.
Ivar tried to reason with him. Was he mad? How could anybody have stayed sane here? “You’ll be free, Quade. Ronan survived the end of his world, and so will you. You can heal and find a new life.”
Quade’s lids dropped to half-mast. “Already dead…Viking.” He stood and dragged Ivar to his feet. “You go now. Portals will open, keep following. Maybe you’ll get home.” Even with his body damaged so badly, his strength was beyond that of a normal hybrid. “Tell Ronan. Tell all my brothers…”
Ivar clutched Quade’s arms, fighting the unholy wind that pierced through his skin to his soul. “Come with me,” he begged.
“Tell them goodbye.” Quade pushed Ivar hard, sending him through a portal that swallowed him with a gleeful shriek. He screamed, but the void allowed for no sound. He hit ice in a new world, rolled, and came up fighting.
Through portal after portal, through hell dimension after hell dimension, he hung on to Quade’s last words. Soon they were all he had. After a while, he vaguely remembered who he’d been. But Quade, he never forgot. Saving Quade, rescuing his brother, was the only thought that kept Ivar alive.
Until he finally arrived back home, on a peaceful lakefront, with his brothers surrounding him.
Ivar jerked back to the present as the police car patrolled again, this time slowing down in the cul-de-sac. The cop was talking on a phone, but his gaze was alert. Good.
Ivar reached for more peanuts, needing the salt. When he went back in time to that period of being just an animal, a metallic taste always filled his mouth. Blood or adrenaline or just fucking fear. He wasn’t sure. But the peanuts helped.
The car moved on, and he angled his head to see one light go out at the far end of the house. Dr. Promise Williams had gone to bed. What did a beautiful scientist like her wear to sleep? Something silky she hid from the outside world? Or something practical and comfortable? Either way, her full curves would be perfect.
He shifted his weight in his suddenly tighter jeans. It had been too long since he’d touched a woman, and considering he’d just tried to kidnap that